Imagining new ways of being: mobility and the formation of Afro-diasporic identities

In this project I am interested in the role of travel and the use of digital media for the construction of Afro-diasporic identities for young adult Germans of African descent. In recent years there has been a rise of Black travel, music, beauty and fashion blogs featuring bloggers of African descent from a variety of countries as well as a rise of Black political organisations on local, national and international levels that are active in promoting a global African diaspora consciousness. These social media platforms offer new entry points of connection for young Europeans of African descent and together with increased transnational mobility in the form of tourism or migration, people regularly move beyond national boundaries in order to experience and articulate different forms of identification and belonging; in order to "find the self" which is an important discourse in the transition to adulthood for middle-class urban folk, travel often features as a strategy that helps with the search. Following and documenting the lives of middle-class urban Black women in Germany and their travels, my research is animated by an interest in how diasporic identities are created, exploring attachments that go beyond a specific country of parental origin.